Martin hetherington



(No Model,) I

HETHERINGTON.

RGAN.

Patented Juiy 2, 1895.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN HETIIERINGTON, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO J. W. STEERE dz SON, OF SAME PLACE.

ORGAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 542,221, dated July 2, 1895.

Appli ati n d October 13, 1894.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN HETHERINGTON, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hamp- 5 den and State of Massachusetts,have invented new and useful Improvements in Organs, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to what is known as tubular pneumatic valve-operating mechanism for pipe-organs.

The objects of the invention are to devise pneumatics or pneumatic motors which shall be of improved construction and operative capability, and also to devise valve-op- I crating devices which shall be of greater sensitiveness and capable of quicker repetition when operated by a very distant pedal or key than any tubular pneumatic apparatus heretofore known to me.

To these ends the invention consists in constructions and combinations of parts, all substantially as will hereinafter fully appear and be set forth in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is avertical sectional view through the wind-chest of a pipe-organ, showing the present improved pneumatic valve-operating mechanism operatively applied. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one of the adjustable Valve-seats.

In the drawings, A represents the windchest for feeding a series of pipes, one of which is indicated by the dotted lines at w.

From the bottom of the wind-chest the passages lead to the respective pipes, one of these being indicated at a. The passages are formed in a rail or board B, which is set under the wind-chest, each passage extending 4o downwardly from the bottom interior of the wind-chest, it being then horizontally continued and then vertically directed to receive the lower end of the pipe.

b represents the valve for the one-pipe passage, it resting to close the orifice a of the passage a, and this valve has the stem 12 depending therefrom through ahole din the bottom of the board or rail B, where it is provided with the secondary valvef, which normally remains open, but is adapted to close said hole when the valve 1) opens from the ori- Serial No. 525,803. (No model.)

fice a to sound the pipe. This arrangement of double valves is common. The said valve 1) depends from the movable bottom board 9 of the individuallyapplied pneumatic g. This pneumatic comprises the top board 9 which is glued or otherwise inimovably secured to the top of the Wind-chest, the flexible and collapsible sides 9 and the aforementioned bottom 9 movably supported by said flexible sides. The said pneumatic has one or more small openings h leading thereinto for communication with the wind-chest.

On top of the wind-chest are two rails or wooden strips 0 D, the one, 0, being directly over the row of the pneumatics 9, while the other, D, is opposite and separated from the one, 0, by a short distance, as seen. A passage j is bored or formed through the top of each pneumatic, the top of the wind-chest, and upwardly into the rail 0, while a branch hole 7' is horizontally and transversely formed to extend from the side of the rail 0, which is toward the rail D, to intersect each vertical passagej. Ashortlength of externally-screwthreaded brass tubing 79 is screwed into the hole j and projects therefrom, so that its end stands about at the sidewise-opening orifice of the individual hole or chamber 71 in the side of rail D.

The tube a communicates with each of the chambers, it extending therefrom to the distant pedal or key, which is sometimes as far as eighty feet or more away from the windchest. The pedal or key-operated valve 0 normally closes the proximate end of the said tube a, while the orifice i of the said chamber i is covered by the imperforate and marginally-secured disk or diaphragm t, of sheepskin or the like, which, not being taut, is subo ject to the slightest variations of air-pressure at either side, whereby it may have a vibration either to lie against and close the end of the transverse nozzle or tube k, or be withdrawn inwardly from such closing relation to open such tube, which places the interior of the pneumatic g in communication with the atmospheric air.

Each of the tubes it has on its end the washer k ,ofsheep-skin,permanentlysecured thereon too by a suitable cement, and constituting internal and external projecting flexible flanges to form a more efficient seat for the transversely-deflecting diaphragm. There is a minute passage at leading from the common wind trunk or chest A to each of the individual chambers. It will be understood that all of the valves, passages, and pneumatic devices described are reduplicated in the organ system, no part being in common except the wind-chest A. I

Now the operation of the apparatus is as follows: There is the usual bellows-pressure in the wind-chest, and valve 0 is assumed to be closed. There is thereforea uniform pressure in the wind-chest inside of the pneumatic g and in the passage j and tube is, as well, also, as in the chamber 2', and the gravity of the bottom board of the pneumatic, assisted,

if desired, by the weight 9 causes the pneumatic to sag to its lowest distension, leaving the valve 1) on its seat, closing the passage a. The flexible diaphragm, under these conditions, will always be in closing relation to the end of the tube It. Now when the valve 0 is opened by the pedal or key the pressure in chamber 2' is exhausted or relieved synchronously, the diaphragm drawing inwardly from the end of tube, whereupon the pneumatic g is in free communication with the atmospheric air and the bellows-pressure in the windchest A collapses the pneumatic with the very peculiar result of lifting its bottom board 9 and with it the valve 1), opening the pipe-passage a to the windchest pressure. Now,

when the valve 0 is closed, the pressure in chamber t' is immediately reestablished, the diaphragm instantaneously closing against the end of the tube, and the pneumatic g, in consequence of, although simultaneously with, such closing of tube It, becomes. distended, and the valve b, supported thereby, descends to its seat. The repetitions and responses of the tubular pneumatic-valve devices following the opening and closing of the pedal or key-valves 0 is in practice as rapid, sharp, and distinct as the manipulation of the fingers of the organist.

The pressure admitted from the wind through the passage a may of course be utilized for any of the other well-known purposes common in tubular pneumatic organs than di-' rectly sounding the pipes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an organ, a wind-chest with a passage leading therefrom having a valve thereat, a collapsible pneumatic, having a movable wall by which the said valve is supported, and having a small opening communicating from the wind-chest to its interior, a passage leading from the interior of said pneumatic to the exterior of the wind-chest, a chamber having an opening opposite the orifice of said passage from the pneumatic, having a passage leading thereinto from the wind-chest, and having a flexible deflecting diaphragm covering said opening which is adapted to close the end of said passage from the pneumatic, and a tube leading from the said chamber and having a normally closed valve, substantially as described.

2. In an organ, a pipe, a wind-chest with a passage, a, leading from its bottom to the pipe, having a valve, 1), thereat, a collapsible pneumatic depending from the' top Wall of the wind-chest having a movable bottom to which the said valve is connected and having a small opening communicating from the wind-chest to its interior, a passage leading from the interior of said pneumatic to the exterior of the wind-chest, a chamber having an opening opposite the orifice of said passage from the pneumatic, having a passage leading thereinto from the wind-chest, and having a flexible deflecting diaphragm covering said opening which is adapted to close the end of said passage from the pneumatic, a tube leading from the said chamber and having a pedal or key-operated valve, substantialy'as described.

- In an organ, the wind-chest, A, having the outlet passage leading from its bottom to the sound producing device, and having a pnuematic suspended therewithin which comprises an inclosed chamber with a movable bottom and flexible collapsible sides supporting said bottom, which latter is directly over the said outlet passage, and constructed with a valved passage leading from its interior to atmospheric air, and with a small unvalved passage communicating from its interior to said wind-chest, a valve supported by said movable bottom of the pneumatic which normally closes said outlet passage, a key, or like part, and means actuated by, and intervening between the key and said valved passage which leads from the interior of the pneumatic, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In an organ, apneumatic, or motor, with a passage leading therefrom having a nozzlelike terminus, a chamber with an opening opposite such nozzle having a flexible, marginally secured, and laterally deflecting dia-' phragm coveringit, and adapted to lie against and close the nozzle end of said passage, in combination with apparatus for maintaining a uniform pressure in both the pneumatic and said chamber, and a pipe leading from said chamber having a valve which, opened, exhausts said chamber and efiects the drawing of said diaphragm away from said passage nozzle, substantially as described.

5. The combination with the wind-chest having the rail, or board, 0, at its top, with a pneumatic, g, suspended from its upper wall and with the passage, j, leading from the interior of said pneumatic up through the top of the Wind-chest and within said board, a

section of tube, is, entering said board, 0, to

connect with said passage, j, the chamber, 0', with the diaphragm-closed opening adjacent the end of said tube and means for maintaining and exhausting the pressure from said chamber, substantially as described.

described, the combination with the rail, or board, D, having the chamber, 1', with an orifice, and a deflecting marginally connected diaphragm closing said orifice, of the rail, or board, 0, having the passage, j, the tube-section, 7c, screwing into an opening which connects with said passage, whereby said tube is adjustable toward and from the diaphragm, substantially as described.

MARTIN HETHERINGTON. Witnesses:

WM. S. BnLLoWs, K. I. OLEMoNs. 

